HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, MAY 9, 2014
J-Serve
From page 1A
The 2014 Teen Task Force
members were Matthew
Gottfried, 8th, Sanford Mid-
die; Jonah Goldberg, 10th,
Lake Mary Prep; Brandon
Levitt, 10th, Winter Park;
Daniel Perreault, 10th, Lake
Highland; Taylor Harris,
10th, Virtual; Kyle Sabell,
11th, Apopka; Sara Hoffen,
11th, Lake Mary; Ilana Loory,
11th, Lake Brantley; Han-
nah Procell, 12th, Oviedo;
and Sophie Schnaper, 12th,
Winter Park.
The staff members were
Lory Conte and Robby Etzkin.
PAGE 15A
Shown here (l-r): Romy Abramowsky, Jordan Harris, Nadav Weil, Ofree Basher, and
Jamie Benghiat help run the J-Serve carnival.
Daniel Perreault and Brandon Levitt facilitate group discussions about community service.
Sharkansky
From page 4A
On the eve of Israel&apos;s Holo-
caust Remembrance, Abbas
made an appropriate remark
about the great historical
tragedy. It's not likely to
change the set of the Israeli
leadership. The West Bank-
Gaza alliance also solved a
problem for Prime Minister
Netanyahu. For the first time
in a while, none of the par-
ties are threatening to leave
the government. It probably
won't help Abbas' cause that
at about the same time he
was calling the Holocaust
a tragedy, a spokesman
for Hamas was denying its
existence.
Israel for the time being
may have to be satisfied
with the comment out of
Washington that the admin-
istration will see how Abbas
statement of honoring the
Quartet's demands passes
the test of time. There are
rumbles in Congress about
ending the aid that the
U.S. gives to the PNA, i.e.,
somewhere in the range of
$200-$400 million per year.
However, rumbles in Con-
gress aren't bankable.
John Kerry must own
up to much of the blame
for what went wrong, and
whatever violence may come
next. He shouldn't have tried
something that knowledge-
able observers were pretty
certain could not succeed.
Kerry has the clout of the
American government behind
his deeply intoned platitudes.
However, the Middle East and
Ukraine are so many miles
from Boston.
History was against him
here, summed up by what
Foreign Minister Abba Eben
said years ago, that the
Palestinians never miss an
opportunity to miss an op-
portunity. Still justifying
that epigram is the reluc-
tance of the Palestinian
leadership to accept Israel's
existence, and give up the
demands of refugees from
1948 and their descendants
to return home.
Lots of Palestinians live
at peace alongside Jews, but
the political and religious
leaders are not ready or not
strong enough to make the
concession in the context of
substantial opposition built
up over the years throughout
the Middle East, now with
a chorus of BDS from the
international left.
A number of countries
without diplomatic relations
with Israel do quiet business
with Israeli firms, and send
their wealthy sick to Israeli
hospitals, but are not about
to offend the mobs trained to
chant death to the Jews.
Same old, same old. Been
here. Done this. Looks like
we'll have to do it again.
Ira Sharkansky is a profes-
sor (Emeritus) of the Depart-
men t of Political Science, He-
brew University of Jerusalem.
Karnpeas
From page 5A
Street said that its actions did
not merit admission.
Farley Weiss, the president
of National Council of Young
Israel, said that bringing in J
Street would render meaning-
less the Presidents Confer-
ence's mission of presenting
a unified Jewish voice to the
government. He noted that
J Street lobbies Congress
and that its positions often
were opposed to those of the
American Israel PublicAffairs
Committee, the pro-Israel
lobbying powerhouse.
"Theywould go to Congress
and say, 'We're critical of Israel
and we're members of the
Conference of Presidents,'"
Weiss said of J Street.
According to participants,
the debate at the Presidents
Conference boardroom on
Wednesday evening was civil,
with contributions by past
chairmen of the conference,
both for and against admit-
ting J Street. Participants said
Butterfly
From page 7A
going so fast it was difficult
to keep track," she answered.
Another actor wondered
how it was possible for the
children to keep silent about
their secret classes.
"Well, they knew that if they
didn't, it would have terrible
consequences for everyone,"
Englinderova explained.
"The children were young but
they weren't really children
anymore. They knew more
about life than many adults."
A day before setting out for
Terezfn, the troop performed
in Prague for Englanderovi's
family and members of the
Prague Youth Theatre, who
had joined the Philadelphia
actors for workshops earlier
in the week.
"It was a tremendous
performance by these chil-
dren," Englinderov said.
"They never experienced
that no one's mind appeared
changed by the debate.
The rejection prompted
calls from some Presidents
Conference constituent
groups for an overhaul of
the body.
"In' the days 'ahead, Reform
Movement leaders will be
consulting with our partners
within the Conference of
Presidents to decide what our
next steps will be," Rabbi Rick
Jacobs, president of the Union
for Reform Judaism, said in a
statement. "We may choose
to advocate for a significant
overhaul of the Conference
of Presidents' processes. We
may choose to simply leave the
Conference of Presidents. But
this much is certain: We will
no longer acquiesce to simply
maintaining the facade that
the Conference of Presidents
represents or reflects theviews
of all of American Jewry."
Before ascending to the
URJ's helm, Jacobs was a
member of J Street's Rabbinic
Cabinet.
Other major groups, in-
cluding the Conservative
movement's Rabbinical As-
sembly and the Anti-Defama-
tion League, also were calling
for an overhaul.
"The Conference of Presi-
dents has 50 or so organi-
zations, each one has one
vote, the majority of those
organizations are quite tiny,"
Schonfeld said. "The fact that
J Street did not pass today's
vote is reflective of structural
anomalies of the conference."
Smallermembers of the con-
ference with similar outlooks
to J Street, including Ameinu
and Americans for Peace Now,
also called for reforms. APN
saiditwould"weigh its options"
regarding its relationship with
the conference.
A source close to the Presi-
dents Conference said that
given the secret ballot it was
not clear that J Street's rejec-
tionwas driven by the smaller
groups and noted that many of
the membership bid's backers
were also small.
the war or anything like
that, and it must have been
difficult for them to imagine
what itwas like. But they did
a great job."
Englnderov had seen the
play before and was even able
to attend its premiere in Mil-
waukee in 1967. But itwas the
first time her granddaughter
Magdalena Kudlkovi saw it.
"In our family, the story
was just a kind of an abstract
fairy tale with a happy ending.
But now I suddenly saw my
grandmother right there, all
those years ago," Kudltkov
said. "It was very strong and
it made me cry."
About 30 people attended
the Terezfn performance,
mostly parents and friends of
the group. Wolf said they had
invited local media and insti-
tutions, but none expressed
interest.
Having a small, familiar
audience, however, may have
helped the young cast cope
with their emotions while
on the stage, said Tim Popp,
the play's director. Popp said
the experience will make the
children better actors.
"They learned they were
capable of feeling more than
they thought they could
possibly do, so the next time
they approach a play, whether
it's Butterfly or even a light-
hearted and comedic musical,
they learned that their range
is bigger than they thought,"
he said.
More importantly, learning
about the Holocaust in this
way could make the young
actors stronger people, said
Mariana Chilton, 46, whose
13-year-old daughter, Zora
Gamberg, is in the cast.
"I think it will help her
and the other children as
they grow up and deal with
the terrible abuses that are
happening all around them."
The source said that previ-
ous attempts to change the
voting system to take into
consideration the various
sizes of the constituentgroups
failed in part because there
was disagreement on what
criteria should determine
the proportional weight of a
member organization.
The expressions of support
for J Street's bid contrast
with the cool reception the
group often received in its
early years. Most major Jew-
ish groups kept away from its
first national conference in
2009. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, Ja-
cobs' predecessor at the URJ,
agreed to speak, but much of
his speech criticized J Street
for not backing Israel's war
with Hamas in Gaza earlier
that year.
Since then, more major
groups have participated in J
Street conferences as attend-
ees and speakers.
The growing warmth is
in part the result of J Street
advocating for Israel to other
liberals. JCPA officials have
said that J Street proved criti-
cal in defeating divestment
motions targeting Israel that
were being considered by left-
leaning mainline Protestant
churches.
Opponents of J Street's bid
said they were influenced by
the group's willingness to
invite to its events supporters
of the boycott, divestmentand
sanctions movement, though
J Street opposes BDS.
J Street's founder and
Mohels
From page llA
shorter period of time.
Most memorable bris: At
the Tulsa airport. I had to
check my instruments as bag-
gage, and the luggage got lost.
The airline eventually found it
and put it on the next flight in,
but there wasn't enough time
to get to the shul and then back
for me to make my flight out.
So we brought food, wine and
president, Jeremy Ben-Ami,
told JTA that his group would
continue to engage with those
with opposing views.
"The whole point of debate
is to actively engage with the
people who disagree with
you," he said.
But the Zionist Organiza-
tion of America's national
president, Morton Klein, said
that some viewpoints, such
as support for BDS, do not
deserve a Jewish platform.
"To give them a podium
so that others can hear their
arguments, no, that gives
them legitimacy and allows
them the chance to convince
other people," he said.
Ben-Ami said he was sad-
dened by the vote.
"We wanted to be in this
tent, we belong in this tent,
we'd be an important asset
to this tent," Ben-Ami said.
But after it was rejected by
the Presidents Conference,
J Street quickly went on the
offensive against the confer-
ence and its vice-president,
Malcolm Hoenlein.
"Dear Malcolm," J Street
said in a letter posted on its
website for which it is seeking
signatories. "Thank you for
finally making it clear that
the Conference of Presidents
is not representative of the
voice of the Jewish com-
munity. We recognize the
need for an open and honest
conversation on Israel in the
United States. We appreciate
you being honest. Now we'll
work on the openness."
Representatives of various
conference members said that
Hoenlein appeared to keep out
of the process.
TheADL's national director,
Abraham Foxman, advocated
for admitting J Street despite
his disagreements with the
group.
"They infuriate me," he
said.
Foxman said that J Street
had undermined its own cause
by criticizing other Israel
supporters and emphasizing
its differences from the com-
munal consensus.
He pointed to a defense
posted on the J Street website
of Secretary of State John
Kerry's recent warning that
absent a peace deal, Israel
could become an apartheid
state. Kerry was strongly
criticized by Jewish groups
for the comment, and he
later said that his use of the
word "apartheid" was inap-
propriate.
"Look what they did, right
before the election, defend-
ing Kerry when Kerry would
not defend himself," Foxman
said.
But whether he liked J
Street was beside the point,
Foxman said.
"We're checking the tzitzis
of those who want to cel-
ebrate Israel," he said, using
an expression that describes
overly intrusive inspections of
Jewish devotion. "We're doing
tzitzis checks of how deep is
their love. That's a troubling
development."
challah to the airport, and I
did it in the chapel there.
Time: About a minute,
plus prep.
Inspiration: It's the perfect
job. It's always a very happy
occasion. I don't have to do
funerals like a rabbi. Everyone
wants to meet you, to feed you.
You're bringing another child :
Retirement? I'm 73, but I'll
keep doing it till I get shaky.
As long as people want me to,
and as long as I'm no danger
to the child.
Device of choice: Mogen
clamp. Its big disadvantage
is, if you're not trained well
you can cause an amputation.
- Anesthesia: I do use a local
into the covenant between: anesthetic, soyoudon'theara
God and the Jewish people m baby screaming in pain.
it's very gratifying. Price: $300-$350